About a year back, major newspapers carried a news item that was a shocker. Eight people were killed in a bear attack in Koraput district. After a few months, a similar incident took place in Balasore district.

Sloth bears are omnivores, who love fruits and roots besides termites and other insects. Bear attacks are often accidental and takes place when a person gets too close to the animal. It gets alarmed and attacks instinctively in self-defence like many other animals.

Why did the above incidents occur? In the first one, villagers had picked up her pups while she was away and even killed them. In the second case, the dens where they lived appear to have been destroyed while quarrying for granite chips.

These incidents give us very clear indication that we are to blame for such human-animal conflicts and if we would leave them alone without interference most such incidents or accidents, call it what you will, would not happen.

Present-day Odisha was created with six districts in 1936. Later, 26 princely states merged with the state in 1948 and 1949. The mineral rich state still boasts of 58,136 sq km of pristine forests, thanks mostly due to these ex-princely states, which have excellent forest cover. Of this forest area, 10.37 per cent have been notified as protected areas and this is about 5.36 per cent of the total land area of the state. Though most of the wildlife is concentrated in protected areas, sanctuaries and national parks, the large forest tracts outside and the wetlands also shelter large number of wild animals.

Wild animals often stray out and come in conflict with people. Animals such as elephants, salt-water crocodiles, sloth bears, wild boars and leopards often come into conflict with human population. Even docile species such as deer and flocks of birds, besides langurs and monkeys also come into conflict from time to time.

With so much of forest cover why does depredation take place and as a result human lives are lost, people suffer injuries, crop is lost and houses damaged?

Retaliatory killing also causes death of wild animals. Besides, poaching also takes a heavy toll.

Wild animals often come out of their habitat due to fragmentation or depletion of their habitats. This happens because of various factors such as mining, habitation, roads, railways, irrigation dams and canals, encroachment, illegal felling of trees, forest fire and so on.

There is a provision of preparation and implementation of wildlife conservation plan for the forest areas affected by different development works. If they are strictly implemented, there could be some relief to the wildlife population. But that does not really happen. As a result, wild animals are often deprived of their habitat and stray into human habitation resulting in conflict, which is detrimental both to the people and wildlife.

Other measures adopted to prevent depredation of wildlife are erection of fences such as trenches and power fences, anti-depredation squads and payment of compassionate grant. According to the statistics provided by the state forest department, nearly 600 people have been killed in the last seven years due to such conflict. Several persons have got injured, cattle killed and crop or houses damaged. The annual compassionate grant for the purpose has also risen to about Rs 11 crore and is perpetually on the rise.

Is there no solution in sight? We have to adopt a few measures to prevent or at least minimise such conflicts.

The areas that are known to be the habitats of endangered species of wild animals or their regular movement trail, (corridor) should not be diverted for non-forestry uses, whatsoever is the compulsion

Instead of conservation plan for individual development projects, including mining, cluster plans should be prepared and strictly implemented

Proper forest fire prevention methods should be adopted involving the local community. There should be a system to reward communities that successfully prevent such fire

All depleted habitats should be enriched with planting of species favoured by wild animals inhabiting the forest concerned. Caves and rock crevices used by bears and other species should not be destroyed for quarrying. Water bodies should also be created for wild animals

Massive awareness campaigns should be undertaken among the people in areas affected by animal depredation so that they can avoid confrontation. Through this initiative, empathy for wild animals and their habitats should be created among the people

People owning agricultural fields in the forest fringes should be motivated to raise non-edible crops to repel wild animals.

The fragmented patches of revenue forests lie scattered throughout the state and are often badly depleted. They should be demarcated, notified and enriched with species of plants favoured by different herbivores

All forest field staff should be thoroughly trained and equipped to handle animal depredation. The district police, fire brigade and revenue administration should also be sensitised and kept in readiness to support the field forest formations in any such eventuality

Whenever such conflicts take place, a system of immediate disbursement of compassionate grant to the affected families may be developed, so that resentment among the people is minimised

Media should also play a very proactive role in creating awareness among the masses

These measures, along with all other traditional methods, can minimise human-animal conflicts, if not altogether eliminate it in the state and create a much healthier relationship among them, where both can coexist with relative ease. Wildlife and wild-biodiversity is a part of our rich heritage and let us strive to save them for posterity.